Retired Inquirer editor Cesar Mangawang; 71

Cesar Mangawang

Updated @ 3:10 p.m., August 29, 2024,to include date and time of cremation

MANILA, Philippines — Former Inquirer editor Cesar Dulay Mangawang, a veteran journalist who for over two decades handled the paper’s industry-oriented weekly sections, died on Saturday, Aug. 24. He was 71.

A dean’s lister at Colegio de San Juan de Letran and former editor of its official campus publication, The Lance, he carved himself an early path into the media profession even before completing his studies.

Among his first jobs were in the press office of then Makati Mayor Nemesio Yabut and as a project officer at the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication.

Mangawang joined the Inquirer in September 1986 as head of its Research Department. By the time he retired from the company 30 years later, he had served as special sections editor in charge of Real Estate and Construction (now Property), Health and Science, InfoTech, Agriculture, Motoring, and PEP (People, Events and Products). He also previously headed the Supplements section under the advertising department.

One of the boys

Inquirer employees fondly remember Cesar as a soft-spoken, friendly and generous colleague — the “Master” of his after-work office “barkada.” Behind the affable exterior, though, was the consistency and diligence of one of the most experienced, multi-tasking hands in newspapering.

Born and raised in Sampaloc, Manila, Cesar was the eighth of 10 children. Their parents, Mariano and Josefina (nee Dulay) hailed from Aringay, La Union. The children’s studies were supported in large part by the employment benefits Mariano enjoyed as a senior accountant at the World Health Organization.

Mangawang died of heart failure, according to his younger sister, Gigi.

The wake is at the Most Holy Trinity Mortuary on Sobriedad Street, Sampaloc, Manila. The cremation will be on Friday, August 30, at 10 a.m. in the same place.